Trump administration returns Guatemalan man wrongly deported to Mexico

The Trump administration has returned a Guatemalan man wrongly deported to Mexico, the first instance of compliance with a judge’s order to facilitate the return of a migrant challenging their removal.

The man, known in court documents at O.C.G., made contact with his attorneys after landing in the U.S., Trina Realmuto, executive director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, confirmed to The Hill.

Realmuto said they expect O.C.G. will be detained.

Justice Department lawyers told the court last week that they were working to secure a spot for O.C.G. on the return leg of a deportation flight.

Lawyers for the man contested his removal as part of a broader case before Massachusetts-based U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy. 

O.C.G.’s attorneys have said their client is gay and was already protected from being returned to his native Guatemala. But they argued the Trump administration failed to account for his fear of being deported to Mexico, where he was previously raped and extorted.

The government previously indicated Trump officials planned to give the man “Significant Public Benefit Parole,” a form of humanitarian parole that would allow him to enter the country.

Other cases in which migrants have been ordered returned to the country have faced significant pushback from the Trump administration.

It has been ordered by the Supreme Court to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who an immigration judge protected from removal to his native El Salvador but who was nonetheless sent to a notorious megaprison in the country. 

The administration has similarly failed to return a man known only as Cristian in court documents, a Venezuelan man likewise sent to the Salvadoran prison despite being protected from deportation under a class action suit.